James Lomma with his son, James Jr. (Source: ENR)

James Lomma, Jr., the 22-year-old son of crane company owner James Lomma, was busted yesterday for heroin possession, the New York Post reported. Lomma, Jr. pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of drug possession and awaits a May 7 sentencing.

The arrest happened on Staten Island, where he was carrying 25 $10 bags of heroin, called “decks,” according to court documents cited by the Post. He also had brass knuckles — weapons used in hand-to-hand fighting — on him. This marks his second drug arrest in six months. [more]

A collapsed crane at a TF Cornerstone site in Long Island City (Image courtesy Larry Dusseau)

Owners have been lax in maintaining cranes and operators have been careless, an analysis of city records by the New York Daily News shows. This negligence has been the cause of several recent accidents, including the collapse of a crane earlier this month at the site of TF Cornerstone’s luxury rental development in Long Island City, which injured seven workers.The Daily News found multiple examples since 2010, some of which led to gruesome injuries… [more]

From left: Crane owner James Lomma and the Azure at 333 East 91st Street

[Updated at 1:42 p.m. with comments and details from the courtroom] In a move that caught many by surprise, the owner of a crane that collapsed at an Upper East Side condominium in 2008 killing two people was acquitted of all the charges against him today, including manslaughter.

James Lomma was found not guilty of six counts by Judge Daniel Coviser in a packed courtroom in Lower Manhattan, bringing an end to a high-profile and emotionally fraught two-month criminal trial. [more]

James Lomma

The case against he owner of the crane that collapsed in 2008 is winding down, the Associated Press reported, as the final prosecutor summations were delivered today. Prosecuters accuse owner James Lomma of being a cold-hearted businessman who greedily commissioned a spotty, cost-saving repair of a crucial component of the crane and hid it from inspectors. [more]

Azure crane collapse

In testimony today in the manslaughter trial of James Lomma, owner of the crane that collapsed in May 2008 during construction of the Azure, deceased construction worker Donald Leo Jr.’s father took the stand, the New York Daily News reported.

Leo held back tears as he recounted his trip uptown to see his son after he was told about the accident, at 333 East 91st Street, at First Avenue, which killed two people. [more]

New York Crane owner James Lomma (credit: Shayna Jacobs for DNAinfo)

The owner of the crane that crashed at the Azure condo in 2008, killing two people, is a cold-hearted businessman more concerned with collecting $50,000 a month in equipment fees than protecting workers, prosecutors said today at the start of his trial.

“They were killed because one man valued his profit over the safety of others,” said Eli Cherkasky, an assistant district attorney, in a packed room inside of Supreme Court in Lower Manhattan. [more]

Pre-trial proceedings in the 2008 Upper East Side crane collapse manslaughter case will be held in open court, the judge has decided, according to the New York Post.

Concerns from prosecutors and victims’ families convinced Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Daniel Conviser to make hearing, crane company owner James Lomma’s hearing, on second-degree manslaughter charges, public, the Post said. The hearing is scheduled for tomorrow at 10 a.m. The collapse at the Azure, at 333 East 91st Street, at First Avenue, involved a crane owned by Lomma’s company, New York Crane and Equipment Corporation.
… [more]

The crane collapse at the Azure and New York Crane owner James LommaAn employee of New York Crane, the company that operated the crane that collapsed at the Azure in 2008, plead guilty to criminally negligent homicide and agreed to testify against the owner of the company to avoid a second-degree manslaughter charge that carries a 15-year prison sentence.

According to court documents obtained by the New York Times, Tibor Varganyi was charged with finding a manufacturer to repair the turntables of some of New York Crane’s equipment. He chose a firm in China over two United States companies, because New York Crane owner James Lomma thought the domestic companies couldn’t complete the job fast enough. … [more]

From left: Crane owner James Lomma and the Azure at 333 East 91st Street

The owner of the crane company implicated in the deadly 2008 collapse at the Upper East Side’s Azure is suing the construction company that had rented his crane for $1.1 million in damages, the Post reported. The owner, James Lomma, is currently awaiting trial on manslaughter charges after a judge turned down his bid to get the case dismissed last month. He and mechanic Tibor Varganyi were accused of arranging for a cheap welding job on the 200-foot-tall crane, which failed after a month of use…. [more]

A judge has upheld manslaughter charges against an owner and a mechanic in connection with a rig collapse at a construction site that killed two workers on the Upper East Side in May 2008, CBS reported. The judge today turned down the defendants’ bid to get the case dismissed and the case is now headed for a trial this spring or summer. Prosecutors said owner James Lomma and mechanic Tibor Varganyi arranged for a cheap welding job on a 200-foot-tall crane at the site of the Azure cond-op at 333 East 91st Street…. [more]